"A little pocket of brilliance in Hoxton"

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Meet the Team

Angela Large – Director of Services

Angela Large is the Director of Services at The Ivy Street Family Centre. She has lived in the area since 2001 and brought both her children to the Centre when they were little. She absolutely loves her job, it’s such a pleasure to see all the families enjoying themselves in our new, bigger venue.
She is passionate about families and loves the opportunity to care for and support local families in our Centre. All types of families are welcome, not just mothers and their own babies and toddlers. We regularly see dads, childminders, nannies, grandparents, aunties, uncles and friends. Everyone is offered a cuppa and a chat while the children play with our high quality toys and equipment.

Angela has a background in nursing and health visiting with a special interest in breast feeding, weaning and all aspects of childcare and development. We aim to provide a stimulating environment for the children and a warm friendly atmosphere where everyone can thrive.

Claire Reay – Centre Manager

Claire was one of our Mums some years ago and stayed on as a volunteer after her child started school. When the Admin job came up at Ivy St she jumped at the chance to work here! Claire loves the homely atmosphere of Ivy Street and has always been a great support in all our efforts to provide an interesting and varied programme of activity.

Claire is now the Centre Manager and runs our Growbaby service on Thursdays as well as all the other things that happen here. She does an amazing job co-ordinating our wonderful Toy Appeal each year, ensuring that hundreds of Hackney children receive a present at Christmas.

Claire has a background in social care, human resources and retail, as well as running her own craft business and teaching knitting. She is a great asset to the team.

Chloe Sanderson – Play Leader

Chloe is a lifelong Hoxton resident, and has been coming to Ivy Street for over 10 years as a parent and as a volunteer.

She runs all of the sessions – which is her dream job!

Chloe has a background in Nursery Nursing and loves coming up with new ideas for the families to enjoy.

Louise Klarnett – Early Years Dance Teacher

Louise is a trained dance teacher specialising in early years movement and play. She has taught our weekly dance session since 2008 and has helped many carers and their children enjoy physical movement and play together during that time. We are very grateful to Sunbabies for continuing to fund our dance sessions every year, enabling Louise to build up strong relationships with our families. The dance sessions are designed with child development in mind and Louise is skilled in helping everyone have fun and enjoy the sessions.

Volunteers

We have a team of wonderful volunteers who are all local women wanting to help out. Some of our volunteers are studying childcare and use their time here are their work placement. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact us for more information.